Easily-accessible and fact-based reporting of interesting developments about new and pending Section 337 investigations, litigation trends, statistics, practical insights into the Administrative Law Judges, and commentary on important ITC decisions.

On February 8, 2013, Tela Innovations, Inc. of Los Gatos, California (“Tela”) filed a complaint requesting that the ITC commence an investigation pursuant to Section 337.

The complaint alleges that the following entities (collectively, the “Proposed Respondents”) unlawfully import into the U.S., sell for importation, and/or sell within the U.S. after importation certain integrated circuit devices and products containing the same that infringe one or more claims of U.S. Patent Nos. 8,264,049 (the ‘049 patent), 8,264,044 (the ‘044 patent), 8,258,550 (the ‘550 patent), 8,258,547 (the ‘547 patent), 8,217,428 (the ‘428 patent), 8,258,552 (the ‘552 patent), and/or 8,030,689 (the ‘689 patent) (collectively, the “asserted patents”):

HTC Corporation of Taiwan

HTC America, Inc. of Bellevue, Washington

LG Electronics, Inc. of South Korea

LG Electronics U.S.A., Inc. of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey

LG Electronics MobileComm U.S.A., Inc. of San Diego, California

Motorola Mobility LLC of Libertyville, Illinois

Nokia Corporation (Nokia Oyj) of Finland

Nokia, Inc. of Sunnyvale, California

Pantech Co., Ltd. of South Korea

Pantech Wireless, Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia

According to the complaint, the asserted patents generally relate to integrated circuit designs and the physical implementation of integrated circuit designs. In particular, the ‘049 patent relates to an integrated circuit, method, and data storage device, each of which comprises conductive gate level features within adjacently positioned gate electrode feature channels. The ‘044 patent relates to a semiconductor device and layout for a semiconductor device. The ‘550 patent relates to a semiconductor device, a computer readable medium having program instructions for a semiconductor device layout, and a method for creating the layouts for semiconductor devices. The ‘547 patent relates to a restricted layout region of a semiconductor device. The ‘428 patent relates to an integrated circuit, method, and layout for making an integrated circuit. The ‘552 patent relates to an integrated circuit, method, and layout thereof. Lastly, the ‘689 patent relates to an integrated circuit and layout of the same.

In the complaint, Tela states that the Proposed Respondents import and sell products that infringe the asserted patents. The complaint specifically refers to the HTC One X, the LG Spectrum 2, the Motorola Atrix HD, the Nokia Lumia 920, and the Pantech Flex as infringing products.

Regarding domestic industry, Tela refers to its significant and continuous investment in plant and equipment, significant and continuous employment of labor and capital, and substantial and ongoing investment in engineering and research and development in the U.S. Tela specifically states that it performs various integrated circuit design activities at its facility in Los Gatos, California, and that these activities relate to products protected by the asserted patents.

As to related litigation, Tela states that, contemporaneously with the filing of the instant ITC complaint, Tela intends to file complaints in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware alleging that the Proposed Respondents infringe the asserted patents.

With respect to potential remedy, Tela requests that the Commission issue a limited exclusion order and a cease and desist order directed at the domestic Proposed Respondents.

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